More than 500 patients suffering from diarrhoea and other diseases were admitted to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease and Research, Bangladesh (ICDDRB) till yesterday noon.

Doctors on duty said usually during the period of April-May and August-October the number of patients rises and sometimes doubles, which was expected to cross 700 by 4:00pm yesterday giving an indication of an outbreak.

The patients admitted yesterday were mostly labourers, an overwhelming number of whom were also adults from the capital and its neighbouring areas.

Patients were seen thronging the ICDDR,B premises throughout the day forcing the authorities concerned to engage more doctors and staff to cope with the sudden pressure.

No hospital staff including the doctors could take their weekly day-off yesterday due to the increase in patient influx.

Hospital sources said although on an average 300 patients were being admitted to the hospital daily for treatments of different water borne diseases only 15 days ago, the number has been increasing sharply since last week raising daily patient admittance to 400.

The numbers of patients seeking treatment for diarrhoea have also risen at the outpatient departments of Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH), Sir Salimullah Medical College Hospital, and Dhaka Shishu Hospital, sources said.

Especially people of low-income group, who spend much time on the streets and quite often drink contaminated water, sugarcane juice and stale food from roadside vendors, suffer from these diseases, doctors said.

Most of the diarrhoea patients however are usually discharged from ICDDR,B after treatment within 12 to 24 hours of their admittance, according to the doctors.